Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-08-10
BALANCED ROCK,


any dance I ever saw at Saratoga or Long
Branch. They moved about as though they
meant it, and there was none Of the david
ling, blase, walk-throush-t air that
you meet with in the east. These people here
are good, healthy Americans. They are i'm
pregnated with the true spirit of American
ism, and l have yet to see, thank fortunel
any Of the Anglo-American apes among
them. They are well educated and cultured,
and the mining society," as described by Mark
Twain, Bret Harte and Joaquin Miller, has
passed away. One equal to the best you will
find anywhere has taken its place. 1t is the
same as the parlor society of the world, that
Of the richer classes, which does not vary
much either in countries or clmes.
#*M
People enjoy themselves much the same
hero rs they do at other mountain places.
The children, and there is a big crop of them
here, ride about the mountain roads on little
donkeys called burros, and a crowd of ten of
them, aged about 6, s and 10 years, have Just
cantered past my window. The rides on
horseback and in carriages are many and they
are wild and romantic in the extreme This
whole section of the Rockies is filed with
views which will rival those of Switzerland,
and great walls of rocks rise straight I'D in
places hundreds of feet. In others YOU 20
through narrow gorges, where carriages can
not pass, and within mile or so is the Won
derful forma ton known as the Garden of the
Gods. A trip to Pixies peak is often taken
by both men and women as well. 1t is twelve
miles up TO the top, and you must either walk
or ride up on horseback, or rather mule back.
IL takes full day, and the whole route is
wildly romantic At the top you can see
Jo.,,,, ,.,l i 49,
forty-tlve miles away. 1t is very hard trip.
At Il 900 feet above The sea the rarefed air
has the effect of making many people sea sick.
and night on the summit is impossible to a
great number. People are sometimes kept
here over night, and heavy blankets are re-
quired to keep away the cold. The top com
priSes seventy acres of powders, upon which
the snow lies and upon which it falls at times
in midsummer. A United States signal sta
ton is now located here
The supplies for this station are taken IN
on queer little donkeys, that are sure il they
are not fast. Their bray is sort of a gr,Iut
and miners call them the Rocky mountain
canaries.
The Garden of the Gods is indescribable
1t is a great basin of rolling land of many
acres, almost completely smut in by walls of
terra Gotta rock, which rise like battlements
many feet in the air, and which in places are
entered by openings against which the blue
sky seems to stand as a curtain. Going
through one Of these gates, you come out of
the mountains and upon wide Colorado
plain, where you can see for miles, and where
the cattle Craze and the horses stand out upon
the hills Of the horizon. This Colorado air is
SO clear that you see farther than in other
states, and the eastern eye loses all confidence
in itself a measure of distances. In the |
interior of this garden the many acres of hill |
and hollow are spotted with rock formations |
so curious in shape as to give the idea that |
'ome giant sculptor of the past has wrought |
hem into shape. They are like no formation !
have ever seen, and they do not re-
'emble any of those Of Europe, such |
rs the Saxon Switzerland, near Dresden. !
Those are regular, and resemble tow
MS. castles, forts and bridges of man,
moth size, These are Of all shapes, and they
end more TO animals vegetables and men
han to the shape Of buildings. Here is a
gigantic brick red mushroom, with head as
zig as the top of the famous wine tun at
Heidelberg, and with stern larger around
han the biggest Of oak trees. 1t is perfect
Mushroom in shape and color, and LOOKS ripe
nough to pick Then there is the wonderful
Balance Rock, seated on q hill, the base of
which is not larger than three feet in diane
er, 1t is as big as a two story house, and its
weight is equal to ! $50 men of 200 pounds
ach. 1t weighs 1875 tons, and it looks as
hough a child might push it over. Still it
las been balanced here for centuries, and il
ynamite does not destroy it with its icono-
Aastic hand it will probably last for centuries